Gareth H. McKinley was born in Hertford, England and studied at Downing College, Cambridge before moving to MIT for his PhD. His work focuses on understanding the rheology (i.e. the flow properties) of complex fluids such as surfactants, gels and polymers, which are ubiquitous in foods and consumer products. His research interests include non-Newtonian fluid dynamics, microfluidics, extensional rheology, field-responsive materials, super-hydrophobicity and the wetting of nanostructured surfaces.

He was awarded the 2013 Bingham Medal from the Society of Rheology and the 2014 Gold Medal of the British Society of Rheology. He served as Editor of the Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics  from 1999 to 2009. A passionate educator, he has won the Bose Award for Teaching and the Den Hartog Outstanding Educator Award  from MIT. He was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2019.

He was the Director of MIT’s Program in Polymer Science & Technology  (PPST) from 2004-2009. McKinley is also co-founder of Cambridge Polymer Group, a Boston-based company employing 20 people and specializing in bespoke instrumentation, materials consulting and orthopedic polymeric materials.